, "Mrs. Henderson sent it--see! see!" And in the
greatest excitement he placed in her lap a basket that smelt savory and
nice even before it was opened. When it was opened, there lay a little
bird delicately roasted, and folded in a clean napkin; also a glass of
jelly, crimson and clear.

"Oh, Joey," cried Mrs. Pepper, almost overwhelmed with joy, "see what
Mrs. Henderson sent you! now you can eat fit for a king!"

That little bird certainly performed its mission in life; for as Mrs.
Beebe said, "It just touched the spot!" and from that very moment Joel
improved so rapidly they could hardly believe their eyes.

"Hoh! I haven't been sick!" he cried on the third day, true to his
nature. "Mammy, I want to get up."

"Oh, dear, no! you mustn't, Joel," cried Mrs. Pepper in a fright,
running up to him as he was preparing to give the bedclothes a lusty
kick; "you'll send 'em in."

"Send what in?" asked Joel, looking up at his mother in terror, as the
dreadful thought made him pause.

"Why, the measles, Joey; they'll all go in if you get out."

"How they goin' to get in again, I'd like to know?" asked Joel, looking
at the little red spots on his hands in incredulity; say, ma!

"Well, they will," said his mother, "as you'll find to your sorrow if
you get out of bed."

"Oh, dear," said Joel, beginning to whimper, as he drew into bed again,
"when can I get up, mammy!"

"Oh, in a day or two," responded Mrs. Pepper, cheerfully; "you're
getting on so finely you'll be as smart as a cricket! Shouldn't you
say he might get up in a day or two, Mrs. Beebe?" she appealed to that
individual who was knitting away cheerily in the corner.

"Well, if he keeps on as he's begun, I shouldn't know what to think,"
replied Mrs. Beebe. "It beats all how quick he's picked up. I never see
anything like it, I'm sure!"

And as Mrs. Beebe was a great authority in sickness, the old, sunny
cheeriness began to creep into the brown house once more, and to bubble
over as of yore.

"Seems as if 'twas just good to live," said Mrs. Pepper, thankfully
once, when her thoughts were too much for her. "I don't believe I shall
ever care how poor we are," she continued, "as long as we're together."

"And that's just what the Lord meant, maybe," replied good Mrs. Beebe,
who was preparing to go home.

Joel kept the house in a perfect uproar all through his getting well.
Mrs. Pepper observed one day, when he had been more turbulent than
usual, that she was